The invention relates to reproduction machines, and more particularly, to an improved system for supplying fresh or makeup toner to reproduction machines.
In xerographic type reproduction machines, latent electrostatic images of the item being copied or printed are generated on a moving recording member such as a photoreceptor through exposure to the document being copied or in accordance with an image signal input. Prior to exposure, the recording member is first readied as by charging. Following exposure, the latent electrostatic images on the recording member are developed at a developing station which in typical present day practice, comprises one or more magnetic brushes for bringing a developer, usually a mixture of carrier beads and toner, into developing relation with the recording member and the image thereon. Following this, the developed image is transferred at a transfer station to a copy substrate material such as a sheet of paper. After transfer, leftover developer is removed from the recording member while the developed image previously transferred to the copy substrate material is fixed as by fusing to provide a permanent copy or reproduction.
In the course of developing images as described above, the toner portion of the developer mixture is depleted and to maintain the necessary proportion of toner, fresh toner must be added from time to time. Since machines of this type are normally capable of processing several different size images up to a preset maximum, toner depletion may not be uniform across the width of the developer sump.
Various types of toner re-supply systems are known to the prior art as, for example, the canister or cartridge type shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,337,072 (Del Vecchio et al.). In the Del Vecchio et al. prior art arrangement, a toner supply canister consisting of relatively rotatable inner and outer concentric tubes, each with a toner dispensing opening are used. The supply of fresh toner is held in the inner tube, and by rotating the inner tube relative to the outer tube, the toner dispensing openings in each are brought into alignment. Another toner dispensing system is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,807 (Eichorn). There, the toner supply canister, once mounted, rotates to bring the toner dispensing holes opposite a series of openings in a stationary grid. Preparatory to this, a tear away strip, which seals the holes during shipment is first removed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,926, a toner dispensing arrangement is disclosed in which toner is ejected from a rotating cartridge by a toner ejecting rod/cam drive assembly.
The present invention is intended to provide a simple, inexpensive alternative to the above toner dispensing cartridges. Instead of the typical horizontal orientation of the toner dispenser vis-a-vis, the developer housing, the dispensing cartridge is inclined at a small angle to the horizontal and is constantly rotated. Toner is, therefore, dispensed only at the end which extends beneath the horizontal. Gravity thus assists the dispensing operation. Instead of the prior art series of dispensing ports required to be arranged along the entire length of the cartridge, the present invention requires that only a few toner dispensing ports need be formed at the dispensing end (the end beneath the horizontal). More particularly, the invention relates to a copying/printing machine having a movable recording member on which latent electrostatic images are created, developing means for developing said images with toner, and transfer means for transferring the developed images to a copy substrate material, said developing means including a developer housing adjacent said recording member with means in said housing to bring developer from said housing into developing relation with said recording member to develop images on said recording member, the combination of: a tube-like cylinder adapted to contain a supply of fresh toner; means supporting said cylinder in spaced relation above said sump, the axis of said cylinder being at an angle with respect to the horizontal; drive means for continually rotating said cylinder, said cylinder having a plurality of toner discharge openings located at the end of the cartridge lying beneath the horizontal, and means for mixing said toner dispensed into said developer housing said mixing means further adapted to transfer the mixed developer onto said developing means.